


The Girl Who Fell From a Tree

by Raxtilt



Series: SpecterBound [2]
Category: Danny Phantom, Homestuck
Genre: Crossover/AU - Freeform, F/M, Humanstuck, Sadstuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-10
Updated: 2013-07-10
Packaged: 2017-12-18 09:09:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/878116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raxtilt/pseuds/Raxtilt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sollux revisits some old memories, and they visit him back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Girl Who Fell From a Tree

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fanwork of my story- SpecterBound done by my moirail and posted with his permission on my archive, to be with the rest of my story.

Your name is Sollux Captor and you are tired of being the best at everything. At least, at anything that doesn’t involve human contact. You’d be perfectly content to spend every hour of every day at your computer rig (which you set up yourself from scratch)… or at least you used to be, until you met her. Nothing’s ever been quite the same since she came into your life. Actually, it’d be more accurate to say she fell into your life. Out of a tree, specifically.

You’ve never been one for nature and stuff, but there was one tree on the Spirit Middle School campus that you really loved. It just so happened that it provided the perfect shade for a glare-less laptop screen whenever you spent your lunch hour outside (which was every day weather permitted, considering the crowded cacophony of the cafeteria didn’t provide a suitable environment for you to get any coding work done). The tree also provided you with your girlfriend, who dropped right into your lap, your laptop acting as a not-so-convenient cushion for her fall. After that day you never had to worry much about sun glare on that laptop screen again… rest in peace, Eve (you like to name your computers and you don’t give two shits whether anyone else thinks that’s weird).

That encounter was 3 years ago. It’s been a little over a year since your relationship with Aradia came to an abrupt end. A crashing, burning end… an end you don’t like to remember, so you certainly won’t be doing that at this moment. Right now you are trying to figure out what the fluff is wrong with your friend Terezi’s computer. 

“Your laptop’s running fine. You don’t even have any malware! Why did you even call me over?”

“Sollux, you nitwit. The F5 key’s broken!”

The names she calls you and the other member of your little trio, Karkat, never bite. They’re more like friendly nibbles.

“Wha— oh,” you cut yourself off after trying the F5 key only to find that its spot is empty. “Why would you call me over for this? I’m a hacker, not a fucking repairman! How did you even manage to… ugh, you know what? Nevermind. I’ll bring over a replacement tomorrow.”

“Auuuuuuugh can’t you just do it now?” she pleads.

“You’re welcome, ungrateful tool.”

“I’ll thank you when I can refresh MSPA’s homepage again.”

“No, you won’t, and we both know it. And you don’t even need the F5 key, your browser has a refresh button right there,” you indicate with your knuckle so as not to get fingerprints on the screen.

“What part about ‘I’m blind’ can’t you idiots get through your thick heads?” She whips off her signature red shades to remind you that, yes, she is in fact blind, as evidenced by her discolored irises, so she can’t see where you’re pointing.

“Let’s see, how about the part where you can apparently read a computer screen well enough to read the stupid webcomic you broke, and then somehow lost, your F5 key for? Or the fact you can do just about everything else a blind person isn’t supposed to be able to do? Like. Reading. On. A. Fucking. Computer Screen.”

“HEHEHEHEHE!” You know Karkat thinks her laugh is obnoxiously grating, and you guess it is, but you don’t really mind it. You think it fits her personality quite well. “Anyways,” she says, changing the subject like she always does when this particular topic is brought up, “why are you still here? Get moving Mr. Honeysuckle, I want my F5 key!”

You mumble a retort about her using that nickname, but she knows you like any name she calls you that has to do with honey. You have an unhealthy relationship with it and drench just about everything in the sticky, golden substance. You guess you can forgive her abrasiveness.

You don’t actually trust Terezi with any of your equipment, but you leave most of it here anyways— except for your laptop. You love the computers you build; they might as well be your children. This one’s name is Adam. It would have been a hassle taking all that equipment down the ladder of Terezi’s treehouse anyways, and you’re thankful you have your laptop bag so the descent isn’t too harsh on your sweet baby.

Landing with a light thud!, you make your way around Terezi’s house and out of her backyard. She lives in a fairly upscale neighborhood, nice but not extravagant. It’s right on the edge of the woods too, so it feels nice and outdoors-y compared to your apartment in the more urban area of Amity Park. You’re an only child, and your parents are never home much due to the nature of their work, so the living arrangement suits you just fine. A raindrop that lands on the tip of your nose warrants a glance up at the sky. 

Shit.

You may have Adam in a properly padded laptop bag, but you don’t know whether even that will keep it dry from the looks of the enormous, almost black clouds waiting to release their contents on the world below. You don’t have much time before it becomes a downpour, so you adopt a jogging pace despite your aversion to physical exertion. Sometimes you think it’d be a good idea to get a bike instead of getting around exclusively by foot. A misshapen mess of rusted metal on the other side of the road reminds you why you stick to the sidewalks.

Eventually you reach the middle school, a sign you’re only a few blocks away from your apartment complex now. Pushing your two-tone glasses back up the bridge of your nose, you stop for a moment. From your spot on the sidewalk, you can see the old tree you spent so many lunch periods under. The lack of leaves on its many branches indicate the looming approach of the dead season of winter. So many memories. After getting to know Aradia (and failing to make her cough up the dough she owed you for what she did to poor Eve), the two of you began dating. She really was a good influence on you. Her adventurous spirit rubbed off on you, even if just little a bit, and brought you out of your silicon shell.

You miss her. So much.

A flash of lightning blinds you for a moment, the accompanying thunderclap unbearably loud for some reason. After recovering from the shock, you see it was so loud because it happened right in front of you. Your tree has been split down the trunk into two nearly symmetrical halves. Sparks and chunks of wood have flown everywhere and you’re extremely lucky that you weren’t struck. It’s a bit harder to see though; the sky has grown much darker now and your best light source is the glow from the fiery remains of the… wait. Fire isn’t that shade of red. It doesn’t come in the shape of a girl, either, last time you checked. You take a few steps to get a closer look.

“What the f—”

Boom!

You have to shut your eyes as another bolt of lightning arcs overhead, the thunder not quite so loud this time, but the flash just as brilliant. You open your eyes again. The glow is stronger, and the shape is more defined. That’s definitely a girl. But how did she get there? And with the lightning…

You get closer. Another thunderclap accentuates the stiffening of your shoulders and the rising of the hair on the back of your neck. There’s no mistaking the wool-like poof of her hair. Her heart-shaped chin. Her almond eyes. You drop your bag, its contents insignificant.

“A… Ara…” Your mouth has forgotten how to form the sounds that make up her name. “A.A.?”

She doesn’t respond at first to your old nickname for her, but after a moment she extends her hand to you.

“Sol…lux…” Her voice is hollow, empty. Just like the caves she used to dream of exploring. The look she gives you is devoid of any emotion.

“A-Aradia!” You start to sprint toward her, holding back tears, nearly tripping over the wooden debris and embers from the explosion.

“Sollux…” she says, “Please… run.”

“What are you talking about!? Run from what!? I thought you were dead!! Why are you back!?” You’ve almost reached her. You’re so close. You reach for her hand.

“Run. Before it’s too late.” She withdraws her arm.

Boom!

Another flash, and the space she was occupying in front of the charred trunk is empty. Your legs fail you as you drop to your knees where Aradia had disappeared. You feel empty. The world is empty. The sky begins to empty itself. The tears you had been holding back are now flowing in full force. They’re hidden by the rain streaking from your hair, but no one’s around to see them anyways. You fall onto your hands, clutching at the muddying soil. You open your mouth to scream, but no sound comes out. Curling yourself into a ball, you tuck yourself between the familiar roots at the base of your dead tree and let the rain fall.


End file.
